


Time Passes, The War Continues

by ashilrak



Series: Unrelated Hamilton Soulmate AUs [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 03:32:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7741771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashilrak/pseuds/ashilrak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It wasn’t the done thing to keep your arms bared in public, but Alexander did it without shame.</p><p>It broke John’s heart."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Passes, The War Continues

John Laurens had been haunted by the name since he could remember. 

His mother used to tell him how Henry Laurens had held his son in his arms for the first time and cried tears of joy. She didn’t say anything about what happened after, but John knew. 

Henry had unwrapped the cloth he had been swaddled in to read the name written in gold on his arm – hoping it would be a familiar name so that the families could meet and negotiate the marriage.

Not only was the name unfamiliar, but it was a man’s name. 

Sure, everyone knew that the names weren’t something that could be controlled, but that didn’t matter to Henry Laurens. What mattered to him was that his son was destined to never continue the family line. John Laurens would not be able to become head of the family. John Laurens would be a mark of shame on them for years to come. 

That was the last and only time Henry Laurens held his son.

Despite this, John Laurens life wasn’t terrible. He’d rather have his father ignore him than not have a name at all. The blank were more shunned than those with “unnatural” pairings. Though how they could be called unnatural when they obviously happened without human interference was a mystery to John. 

He had heard stories of parents who were cruel to their children, and John was thankful that Henry Laurens wasn’t the type of man to raise his hand to his family, no matter how much he might not approve of their very existence. 

He complied with his father’s wishes as much as he was able. The sciences had always interested him, but his father had a point in that a man with an unnatural match would be much more accepted as a lawyer than a doctor. Men didn’t care about what their lawyers did as long as they were good at their job – they would be much more hesitant with a doctor who would be required to lay their hands on them at some point.

And so John Laurens studied law in London. 

Something else that still hadn’t been explained about the name phenomenon was that names didn’t always match up. 

A Martha Manning had approached him one day after hearing his name. He didn’t find himself particularly attracted to her by any means, but John still felt his heart break when she pushed up the sleeve of her dress to reveal his name on her arm.

He proposed immediately – he wasn’t sure who was more bewildered between the two of them at the turn of events. 

John wrote home to his father immediately. The response was not pleased, but John could see that Henry Laurens was somewhat pleased by the situation as it meant that John would no longer be considered “unnatural” and the dark mark would fade sooner rather than later.

Martha was with child. 

John left and joined a war, only thinking about her when it occasionally occurred to him to write a letter to his wife and mother of his child.

John was very distracted by everything going on around him. 

There was so much to do. Their outlook was incredibly slim, but John finally had something to believe in, and he told himself the name on his arm was worth fighting and possibly dying for. 

And then he met him – Alexander Hamilton – the man belonging to the name on his arm.

Alexander Hamilton was an anomaly. He came from somewhere far away, but had managed to work his way through the ranks by sheer willpower and brilliance alone. He was simply stunning to watch; not only was he beautiful, but his energy seemed to almost radiate from under his skin.

He was so passionate, and John Laurens fell in love immediately. 

So did everyone else - John could see it in their eyes when Alexander walked through the camp, fingers ink-stained and eyes frantic. 

He drew people in, and just as quickly he shut them out.

The strangest thing about Alexander Hamilton wasn’t the attention he commanded in his slight frame; but rather the fact that both of his arms were clear of any writing not his own, and how he seemed to bask in how uncomfortable it made people.

It wasn’t the done thing to keep your arms bared in public, but Alexander did it without shame.

It broke John’s heart.

Not only because their names weren’t shared – and that certainly was painful enough in its own right – but the ridicule and shame Alexander must have faced to wear that sort of immunity towards the snide comments so comfortably. 

John Laurens was still in love with Alexander Hamilton, but now John Laurens knew that Alexander Hamilton would never love him back.

He kept up his letters to Martha, and he made no mention of Alexander to her. He had a daughter named Frances over in England, and John knew that he would never meet her. 

John was not going to survive the war.

Another notable fact about Alexander was that he chose people and clung to them. John was blessed enough to be included in that number. 

Never before had a hug been so bittersweet. 

If Alexander thought it odd that John never showed his arms when they shared a tent, he made no comment, and for that John was grateful. It took Alexander effort to not speak his mind. 

Time passed, and the war continued. 

And then Alexander met Eliza - a handsome girl from a wealthy family. Apparently she and her sister, Angelica, shared names, making them as good as blank. The only reason they were still desirable was their status. She was in the perfect position for Alexander to marry into, and on top of that, she was a genuinely kind soul who seemed to want only the best for everyone.

John hated her, and hated her more for how much he couldn’t seem to hate her. 

Eliza had pulled him aside one day, and sat him down. The conversation had been uncomfortable, but she considered it necessary, and so John was forced to go through with it by her kind gaze. Eliza knew that name that was written on his arm, said she could see it in his eyes when he looked at Hamilton. She had taken his hand, and then in a great show of indecency, rolled up his sleeve and kissed the gold letters. And then she left.

John Laurens cried for a very long time.

And then John Laurens went to South Carolina never to see Alexander’s face again. 

The war was already over when he died.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes ideas just come and need to be written down, and I'm not going to get in the way of that
> 
> Please feel free to pester me on my tumblr: ashilrak
> 
> I'd love to know what you think!


End file.
